As New Jersey continues the yearlong celebration of its 350th birthday, one Morris Township woman is focused on the 200th anniversary of an all-American treasure.

A weeklong "Star-Spangled Spectacular" sponsored by the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission is being planned for next month around Baltimore Harbor to mark the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key penning the immortal poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry." Key's famous words, of course, were later married to the melody of a 19th century pub song and became "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Among the thousands of people expected to attend the event, which begins on Sept. 10, is township resident Suzanne Key Boyle Herrmann, who proudly wears family ties on her sleeve.

"I am Francis Scott Key's second cousin, fourth removed," said the Boston-born, Baltimore-raised Herrmann, who has lived in the Morristown area for 46 years.

Key, she said, was a lawyer and an amateur poet who was tasked by the United States government in 1814 to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the invading naval forces of the British empire during the War of 1812.

Finding himself aboard a British ship full of American prisoners of war on the eve of the attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Key was detained "because they realized he was privy to their plans to attack until that flag came down."

"They told him there would be a prisoner exchange the next day, but that by the next morning, 'You'll all be under a British flag' " she said.

The fort, of course, was successfully defended on the night of Sept. 13-14, 1814, during which Key would observe and report to the POWs below, 'The flag's still flying,' " Herrman said.

Soon after, he was released, wrote his poem and published it on Sept. 20, 1814. After gaining a melody and popularity as a patriotic song, renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner," the U.S. Navy adopted it in 1889 as the official song to be played at flag-raisings. President Herbert Hoover officially declared it to be the official U.S. national anthem in 1931.

Herrmann's grandfather, she said, was a Key and not one to dwell on history. But his wife, Herrmann's beloved grandmother, instilled in her a passion for history, especially that of her own family.

"She was a wonderful lady who told me about my great-grandfather, who fought in the Civil War," Herrmann said. "Before she died, she gave me the family Bible, which dates back to the 1840s. She said 'You have the Key name, you have the interest, I want you to take the Bible and keep the tradition alive.' "

The Boyle family Bible — a large, thick edition with a red cover, gold trim and brass lock — shows its age, but is sprinkled with Communion cards and other documents, including bound pages where births were entered.

"I'm going to take this with me to the celebration," she said.

Her grandmother lived in Libertytown, Maryland, a short ride from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, so trips there were naturally part of her childhood. Her love of family history also was fueled by visits to Fort McHenry with her father, a journey she later made with her four children.

As a young adult, she also enjoyed attending reunions of the extended Francis Scott Key family.

"He had a lot of siblings, so it is a large family," Herrmann said. "F. Scott Fitzgerald was a Key, and at one of the reunions, I met his daughter, who ran a store in Baltimore. I was just starting Georgetown at the time, in 1959, and would go and visit her there. There was only one rule: You never talked about her parents."

Herrmann was invited by the Maryland Historical Society three years ago to represent the Key family at an event in which the priceless original manuscript of Key's poem was brought back to Key's home town of Frederick, Maryland.

"I think it was one of the first times in ages that it was taken out of the Maryland Historical Society," she said. "State troopers were all over the place. Can you imagine if they blew that up?"

No formal invitations were given out to the elaborate "Star-Spangled Spectacular," but she and her husband, Frank Herrmann, are excited about attending many of the events.

"It's going to be a real treat," she said. "There's a flyover of the Blue Angels, and the Tall Ships will be in the harbor. My grandfather on my mother's side actually was instrumental in developing the harbor. And the fireworks are on the 13th."

She also is planning to meet up with a cousin, Joan Dugue, who will be coming from North Carolina, and some old classmates from the convent school she attended in Baltimore, including two friends from her first-grade class. They also will attend a reception at the Hopkins Club at Johns Hopkins University.

Now living in Morris Township after a long career with the Red Cross, Herrmann is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice.